Moderator:
Doreen Ringer-Ross is Vice-President of Film/TV Relations at BMI. She has worked in the music Industry for over two decades and currently specializes in outreach to the film and music communities.

Panelist:
A one on one conversation with the iconic 60's folk pop phenomenon Donovan about his extraordinary life, his influences, his career, and the new documentary about his journey: Sunshine Superman. This session will be peppered with great anecdotes about collaborators and friends (traveling to India with the Beatles) and it will also take a look at the musician's relationship with cinema from composing original scores (Charlie Mopic, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Poor Cow) to creating and contributing his songs for film and TV projects (Hurdy Gurdy Man, Jenifer Juniper, Season of the Witch, Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow, Catch the Wind, Wear your Love Like Heaven, etc).

Panel: SHOW ME THE MONEY–FROM DREAM TO REALITY: HOW TO FINANCE YOUR INDEPENDENT FILM

Utopia Studios10/03/2008, 4:00PM

$ 15

Qty

You wrote a great screenplay; you have a great subject; you have well-known people interested in working on it; now what? Should you look for private funding? Should you pitch to a hedge fund? A foundation? How do you make your dream a reality? We have assembled some of the best financial resources and those in the know from the independent film world who will explore these questions and lay out some of the more creative and traditional roads towards financing your film.

Moderator:
Steven C. Beer is a shareholder in the international media and entertainment practice of Greenberg Traurig's New York office. He concentrates his practice on film, music, television, licensing, and media law. He has served as counsel to numerous award-winning writers, directors and producers, as well as industry leading film production, film finance, and film distribution companies. Steven received his B.A, summa cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis and his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law. His recent credits include "Perro Come Perro," "A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy" and Oliver Stone's "W."

Ryan Harrington serves as the head of IndiePix Studios. In addition, he serves as the Executive Producer on all IndiePix films. Current projects include "21 Below," "Entre Nous," "P-Star's Redemption) and "Slap & Tickle," all of which will hit the festival circuit in 2009. Prior to this, Ryan ran the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and managed production for A&E IndieFilms for four years. He was a champion for the Oscar¨-nominated films "Murderball) and "Jesus Camp); the Sundance hits "My Kid Could Paint That) and "American Teen); and Barbara Kopple's "Bearing Witness) and "Street Thief."

Jonathan Gray, a practicing attorney since 1990, is a dedicated advocate for emerging and established directors, producers, production entities, screenwriters, investors and distributors in film, television and other media. He is the senior partner at Gray Krauss, a full-service entertainment law firm concentrating on independent film and television production and distribution, as well as music and intellectual property matters. The firm's clients include motion picture and television producers, directors, writers, distributors and financiers.
Jonathan is the former chairperson of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Motion Pictures. He is also an award-winning independent film producer.

Stephen Hays is an executive producer and managing member of 120dB Films, a finance company specializing in gap and related loans to the independent film industry. Recent projects include "Battle in Seattle," "Sixty Six," "Motherhood," "The Dream of the Romans," "Knife Edge," "Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger," "Good," "Savage Grace) and the TNT series "Leverage," He was co-founder and General Partner of Seneca Capital, a $3.5 billion, New York-based hedge fund, where he remains a partner and adviser. Prior, he was a Managing Director at Furman Selz, a NY-based investment bank where his focus was proprietary risk arbitrage and event-driven investing. Stephen is an extreme sports addict "wake, kite and snowboarding," a great fan of dub and electronic music and co-writer of a screenplay entitled "Rocksteady," which is looking towards a summer 2009 production.

Celine Rattray formed Plum Pictures with Galt Niederhoffer and Daniela Taplin in 2003. Since then, Celine has been extraordinarily prolific, bringing seven films to Sundance, including this year's "Diminished Capacity) starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda and Virginia Madsen; and "Birds of America," starring Matthew Perry, Ben Foster, Ginnifer Goodwin and Hilary Swank. Celine is in development on "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt) at Paramount, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese attached to star and direct; the remake of "Cach) at Universal, with Ron Howard attached to direct; and "The Bell Jar," with Julia Stiles starring. In 2008, Plum Pictures will be making the next films by Jim Strouse and Craig Zobel.

Panel: CAREER DAY–YOUTH INITIATIVE

Woodstock Elementary School10/03/2008, 5:00PM

$ 0

Qty

The "Career Roundtable" offers students a unique opportunity to meet with A-list film industry professionals in small groups, ask questions, and learn about careers in film and new media.

Women in the film industry continue to carve a strong and meaningful path in a world that used to be traditionally dominated by men. With more women sitting in the Director's Chair and holding top positions as executives, producers and administrators, has the balance finally shifted to a point of equality? Join us as a diverse group of powerful women discuss their work and the state of the film industry, from the woman's perspective.

Moderator:
Thelma Adams, Film & DVD critic currently writes film reviews for US Weekly and contributes regularly to a plethora of publications, including The Independent, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, The Christian Science Monitor, The Huffington Post and Indie Magazine.

Panelists:
Maggie Renzi has acted in several of John Sayles' films and for him produced Lianna, The Brother From Another Planet, Matewan, City of Hope, Passion Fish, The Secret of Roan Inish, Lone Star, Men with Guns, Limbo, Sunshine State, and Silver City. Other projects include Alejandro Springall's Jewish/Mexican movie My Mexican Shiver and Sayles' Honeydripper.

Rita Taggart has been described as a genuine unstoppable life force. She began working in San Francisco in the late 60s with Project Artaud, The Julien Theatre and Comedia Del Arte. After completing her BA degree at San Francisco State College, Rita moved to Los Angeles and joined the Harvey Lembeck Comedy Workshop. There she had the opportunity to work with John Ritter, Robin Williams and Phil Foster. She then got her first union job on the television series Rhoda and her first film job in Straight Time. Since then she has had roles in Almost Grown, Northern Exposure, Weeds and Coach. She most enjoyed her role in Coming Home as well as working on Haskell Wexler's documentary Who Needs Sleep?

Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award¨ winning filmmaker for the documentaries Harlan County, USA and American Dream. Her other films include Shut Up and Sing, Havoc, A Conversation with Gregory Peck, My Generation, Wild Man Blues, Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson, among many more. Barbara is the recipient of the DGA Award for Outstanding Direction, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Award, National Society of Film Critics Award, the SilverDocs / Charles Guggenheim Award, New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award, the Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Award and the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, Filmmakers Trophy & Audience Award. The Paley Center for Media has named Barbara a 2007 "She Made It" honoree."

Panel: CONVERSATION WITH HONORARY TRAILBLAZER RECIPIENT JAMES SCHAMUS

Utopia Studios10/04/2008, 12:00PM

$ 15

Qty

Moderator:
Karen Durbin is the film critic for Elle magazine, where she writes a monthly two-page column. She also writes features for Elle and articles on film for the Sunday Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times. Previously, she was the film critic for Mirabella magazine and its arts and entertainment editor. From April 1994 to September 1996, Karen was the editor-in-chief of The Village Voice.

Panelist:
James Schamus, this year's WFF Trailblazer Award recipient, is CEO of Focus Features, Professor in Columbia University's School of the Arts, and widely talented screenwriter, producer and film executive. He has been an integral contributor to the American independent film business for over two decades, and continues to contribute to the film community in a myriad of roles.

Panel: IS IT SAFE?

Utopia Studios10/04/2008, 2:00PM

$ 15

Qty

Curated by Liesl Copland

With the closure of many of the studio specialty divisions and the reported financial troubles of many of the independents, has "indie film distribution" come to an end, or is this just the end of the world as we know it? What does the "falling sky" really signify for the independent film sector? Were these companies right to turn their backs or were they just spending too much? Should you make films these days without some form of distribution? And most importantly, who, what or where is the great future hope for indies? Join this esteemed panel of experts straight from the front lines of indie distribution and learn where the light is at the end of the tunnel.

Moderator:
Dade Hayes is assistant managing editor of Variety, based in New York. Since 1999, he has covered a range of film stories as a reporter and editor in Los Angeles and New York. A book he co-wrote in 2004 with Jonathan Bing, OPEN WIDE: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession, was featured in The New Yorker and on NPR's Fresh Air. Hayes's writing has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Premiere, The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe. In April 2008, Free Press/Simon & Schuster will publish his next book, Anytime Playdate: Inside the Preschool Entertainment Boom, or How Television Became My Baby's Best Friend.

Panelists:
John Sloss is the founder of Cinetic Media and a managing partner and founder of the entertainment law firm Sloss Law Office LLP, both which are based in New York City. Through Cinetic Media, Sloss has facilitated the sale and/or financing of well over 200 films including the Todd Haynes Bob Dylan project I'm Not There; Sundance Film Festival hits Napoleon Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine, Under The Same Moon, Grace is Gone and No End in Sight; and the high-profile 2007 Cannes Film Festival sale of James Gray's We Own The Night. Sloss has executive produced over fifty films including the Academy Award¨ winning The Fog of War and Boys Don't Cry; and Before Sunset and Far From Heaven. His law clients include Killer Films, Bob Dylan, Morgan Spurlock, Endgame Entertainment and Big Beach Films. Prior to founding Sloss Law Office in 1993, John was a partner at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster.

Liesl Copland is a fifteen-year entertainment industry veteran. Under her tenure as head of Red Envelope Entertainment (the original content division of Netflix) Liesl engendered the success of indie films such as Two Days in Paris, This is England, 4 months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, No End In Sight, The Devil Came on Horseback, Ricki Lake's The Business of Being Born and the Netflix sensation Maxed Out. She forged distribution partnerships with such companies as Miramax Films, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Magnolia Pictures, Roadside Attractions and IFC Films, as well as more non-traditional outlets such as B-side Entertainment.

Ted Hope is the co-founder of This is That, a New York production company. He most recently wrapped production on Greg Mottola's Adventureland. His credits include production of Oscar¨-winner Alan Ball's directorial debut Nothing is Private. Ted has also brought the first features of Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Todd Field, Michel Gondry, Moises Kaufman, Bob Pulcini and Shari Berman, among others, to the screen. Among Hope's productions are 21 Grams, which earned two Academy Award¨ nominations; In the Bedroom, earner of five Oscar¨ noms; and Happiness, winner of the Cannes Critics Prize.

Tom Quinn began his film career in Los Angeles doing domestic publicity at Dennis Davidson Associates working for Senior VP of West Coast publicity Nancy Willen. He later moved on to work for Samuel Goldwyn Jr., eventually becoming the VP of Acquisitions, where he was responsible for acquiring Raising Victor Vargas and Super Size Me. He is currently Senior VP of Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing where he reports to President Eamonn Bowles. Some of his acquisitions include: Man on Wire, Flawless, Ong Bak, WomanThou art Loosed, Pulse, The Host, World's Fastest Indian, Jesus Camp, District B13, Tears of the Black Tiger and Cocaine Cowboys.

Mark Duplass and his brother Jay's film, The Puffy Chair, was one of the breakout hits from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which also stars Mark, won the Audience Award at SXSW and was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. Mark and Jay first made a name for themselves with a string of award-winning short films, including This is John and Scrabble, both of which premiered at Sundance. The brothers are currently writing and directing films for both Universal and Fox Searchlight and have sold The Trail, a television show, to NBC. Their latest feature, Baghead, sold to Sony Classics at Sundance 2008 and is now in limited theatrical release.

Panel: CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING

Utopia Studios10/04/2008, 4:00PM

$ 15

Qty

Every decade or so, the winds of change blow the independent filmmaking world in a new direction and the last few years are no exception. The Mumblecore movement uses an ultra low-budget style of film?making, improvised scripts and twenty-something stories. Personal documentaries, filmed with consumer camcorders, drop the viewer inside the insular world of their characters. Our panel of young filmmakers discuss how new trends enable indie films to tell the story in a cost effective and dramatic narrative fashion.

Moderator:
Entertainment attorney Robert Seigel is a partner in the law firm Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, which specializes in film and theater as well as television, publishing, art, new media and intellectual property matters on a transactional and litigation basis. His clients include motion picture and television producers, directors, writers, distributors, service companies and sales agents. He has represented such films as Forty Shades of Blue, Interview, Blind Date, Trembling Before G-d, Jihad for Love, 10th & Wolf and The Last Winter.

Panelists:
Larry Fessenden is the director of the critically acclaimed art-horror films No Telling, Habit, Wedigo and The Last Winter. He recently directed an episode of the NBC anthology series Fear Itself entitled Skin and Bones. As an actor he has appeared in The Brave One with Jodie Foster and Broken Flowers with Bill Murray. He has produced many independent films including this year's Woodstock FF entries, Wendy and Lucy and Blood Red Earth.

Chiemi Karasawa founded Isotope Films in 2005 to produce independent films and documentaries. Her past career as a Script Supervisor spanned 15 years working in film, television and commercial production alongside such notable directors as Jim Jarmusch, Emir Kusturica, Larry Clark, Rebecca Miller, Spike Jonze, Stephen Frears and Martin Scorsese. She recently produced Jennifer Venditti's documentary Billy the Kid, co-produced Ellen Kuras' film
The Betrayal, and is currently producing a narrative biopic about Tiny Tim starring John Turturro.

Matt Dentler is the head of marketing and programming for Cinetic Rights Management, a sister company of Cinetic Media in New York. Prior to that, he spent five years as the Producer of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin starting in 2003. Matt currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Austin Film Society and graduated with a BS in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas. He is also the executive producer of PJ Raval's and Jay Hodges' documentary feature, Trinidad.

Ross Partrtidge, a native of the Hudson Valley area, recently received critical acclaim for his role of Matt in the Duplass Brother's Baghead. He went on to co-produce their next film Dodeca Pentathlon, to be released in 2009. Film credits include Steven Spielberg's The Lost World; Black and White with Gina Gershon; Amityville Horror with Terry O'Quinn; and The Wedding Murders with Canadian director Bashar Shibib. Television credits include: NYPD Blue, CSI, Law and Order, Hudson Street, Quantum Leap and The Net. In addition, Ross wrote and directed the feature film Interstate 84. He was a producer for Trigger Street Productions.

Panel: MOVIES THAT MATTER: DO THEY COUNT?

Utopia Studios10/05/2008, 10:00AM

$ 15

Qty

By definition, movies have an enormous social impact, whether they are pure entertainment or take on a socially relevant issue. In helping to define the fabric of our culture, do filmmakers have a responsibility to address social issues? By focusing deeply on one particular subject, can filmmakers bring to the forefront troubled issues that the general media is unable to highlight, thus filling up the gap where journalism used to be? Or are movies that matter just good films? Our panel of acclaimed documentary and narrative filmmakers will explore the impetus, the process and the impact of movies that matter on our world.

Moderator:
David D'Arcy is a critic for Screen International. He also writes regularly for a wide range of publications and is a frequent commentator for BBC.

Panelists:

John Sayles has been working with Maggie Renzi since 1978 when he wrote, directed and edited Return of the Secaucus Seven. In addition to those Renzi produced, Sayles has written and directed Baby It's You, Eight Men Out and Casa De Los Babys. Honeydripper, about the origins of rock and roll in the Deep South, was his latest project. All his fiction: Pride of the Bimbos, Union Dues, Anarchists Convention, and Los Gusanos is being reissued by Nation Books, which published his new collection of short stories, Dillinger In Hollywood, in 2004. His book about the making of Matewan, Thinking in Pictures, has never gone out of print.

His many awards include the John D. MacArthur Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the John Steinbeck Award, the John Cassavettes Award and the Ian McLellan Hunter Award. He has received two Academy Award¨ nominations.

Haskell Wexler is considered one of the most well respected cinematographers in the film industry today. His career spans six decades and his work includes films such as Bound for Glory, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Interviews with My Lai Veterans, Blaze, Matewan, and American Graffiti. Wexler has received five Academy Award¨ nominations, two Oscars¨ (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Bound for Glory) and other awards honoring his outstanding achievements. Wexler has also directed several successful films including Medium Cool (1969) Latino (1985), and From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks (2007). Haskell Wexler will receive the special Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Woodstock Film Festival.

Morgan Spurlock is the writer/producer/director of the Academy Award¨-nominated film Super Size Me. His highly acclaimed series 30 Days recently completed its third season on the F/X network. The show examines social issues in America and has been praised by such diverse groups as the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Spurlock's latest directorial project, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? premiered at Sundance 2008. In 2006, Spurlock and Arts Alliance America created a film and distribution partnership to release films considered to be groundbreaking and important that were overlooked by the majority of filmgoers.

Pamela Yates is the co-founder of Skylight Pictures, Inc., a film and television company committed to producing artistic, challenging and socially relevant independent documentary films on issues of human rights and the quest for justice. She is a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow. Yates is the the Executive Producer of the Academy Award winning film "Witness to War", the Producer of the Emmy Award winning "Loss of Innocence", and the Director of the Sundance Award winning "When the Mountains Tremble". Her latest film, "State of Fear: The Truth About Terrorism" was translated into 47 languages and broadcast in 156 countries and received an Overseas Press Club Award. She is a member of the Director's Guild of America (DGA) and the Writer's Guild of America (WGA).

Panel: ACTORS DIALOGUE

Utopia Studios10/05/2008, 12:00PM

$ 15

Qty

Join some of today's most engaging actors as they chat about their work and their lives.
Moderator:

Martha Frankel has been writing about film for over two decades. She has contributed to Details, The New Yorker, Redbook, Cosmopolitan and The New York Times. She is the author of Hats & Eyeglasses: A Family Love Affair with Gambling, published by Penguin/Tarcher.

Panelists:
Mary Stuart Masterson made her film debut at the age of seven in The Stepford Wives. She has starred in over 25 films including At Close Range, Some Kind of Wonderful, Immediate Family, Friend Green Tomatoes, and Benny and Joon; and numerous plays and musicals including the Tony Award¨ nominated Broadway musical Nine. Along with her brother Peter, she is in the process of launching a film production company. Stuart Masterson made her narrative feature directorial debut with The Cake Eaters. Currently, she is producing Tickling Leo, which is in post-production

Panel: THE DOCUMENTARY STORY TODAY–HOW IS IT DOING?

Utopia Studios10/05/2008, 2:00PM

$ 15

Qty

More and more filmmakers are attracted to the documentary realm, telling challenging political and social stories that the general media left behind or delving into personal situations that reveal the human condition in its glory and its darkest moments. With the constant growth of documentary production in the U.S. and all around the world, the question often comes up: are these films viable commercially? Who and where is the audience? And do these films make the kind of impact the filmmakers are hoping for? Five years after the meteoric success of Fahrenheit 9/11, are the documentaries holding their own, or do they need a mega-hit doc every year to perpetuate the perception of them being financially lucrative? This panel of documentary filmmakers and experts will discuss today's state of documentary filmmaking and explore new creative ways for a film to succeed in a tight marketplace, with an eye towards its future growth.

Moderator:
Heidi Ewing has taken on a wide range of subjects, which include the inner workings of Scientology, ritualistic body modification rites in Sri Lanka and the criminal justice system in the Bronx. Previously, she delved into the dramatic world of Cuban politics with Dissident, a film about the struggle of Havana-based Nobel Peace Prize nominee Oswaldo Paya--a film that was made clandestinely and has been shown around the world. She and Rachel Grady made their feature doc debut in 2005 with The Boys of Baraka. The team followed with Jesus Camp, nominated for an Academy Award¨. She and Rachel are currently making a new film in Saudi Arabia. Heidi is the co-owner of the New York-based production company Loki Films.

Panelists:
Morgan Spurlock is the writer/producer/director of the Academy Award¨-nominated film Super Size Me. His highly acclaimed series 30 Days recently completed its third season on the F/X network. The show examines social issues in America and has been praised by such diverse groups as the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Spurlock's latest directorial project, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? premiered at Sundance 2008. In 2006, Spurlock and Arts Alliance America created a film and distribution partnership to release films considered to be groundbreaking and important that were overlooked by the majority of filmgoers.

Ellen Kuras, a respected cinematographer, has won the Sundance Film Festival dramatic Excellence in Cinematography Award an unprecedented three times: for Tom Kalin's Swoon in 1992, and for two of Rebecca Miller's films, Angela in 1995 and Personal Velocity in 2002. She has also received two Emmy Award¨ nominations for A Century of Women and Spike Lee's 4 Little Girls. Other film credits include Blow, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind.

Michael Tucker has worked in the Balkans, Southern Africa, SE Asia and the Middle East. In 2003, the outbreak of the war in Iraq pulled Tucker to Baghdad, where he followed an armored car salesman making sales calls for what later became Bulletproof Salesman. While filming Bulletproof Salesman, Tucker took interest in the story of US soldiers deployed in Baghdad and began to work on Gunner Palace in August 2003. After the critically acclaimed release of Gunner Palace in the Spring of 2005, Tucker began work on The Prisoner: or How I planned to Kill Tony Blair, recently nominated for Independent Spirit and Cinema Eye Awards. Tucker is working on his first narrative screenplay.

Kief Davidson is an award-winning feature film and documentary director born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His latest film "Kassim the Dream," premiered at the 2008 Tribeca film festival and will theatrically release the film in early 2009. His prior film, "The Devil's Miner," made its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2005 and won over a dozen awards at international film festivals including Tribeca, Hot Docs, Chicago, Woodstock, Jerusalem and Mexico City. He received the prestigious DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Directing and won the coveted PBS Independent Lens Audience Award. "The Devil's Miner" screened theatrically in over 140 cinemas across Europe and the USA. Davidson currently divides his time between Los Angeles and New York City with his wife Kathleen and son Liam.

Ron Mann established his international reputation while in his twenties with a series of award-winning theatrical documentaries including Imagine the Sound, Poetry in Motion, Comic Book Confidential, Twist, and Dream Tower. His 1999 documentary, Grass presents a humorous and surprisingly balanced history of recreational marijuana use in the late 20th century. Go Further, which follows actor and activist Woody Harrelson as he takes to the open road on his Simple Organic Living Tour followed. In addition to making films, Mann and veteran Toronto film and music promoter Gary Topp distribute films in Canada under the banner "Films We Like."

Brett Morgen is an Oscar nominated director and producer who's credits include Chicato 10 (2007), The Kids Stay In the Picture (2002), ON THE ROPES (1999), and Nimord Nation (2007). He has won numerous awards including a Peabody, DGA Award for outstanding direction in a documentary, IDA award for Best feature length documentary, Sundance Film Festival Jury Award, and an Academy Award nomination. His films have screened at festivals all over the world including Cannes and Sundance, where his most recent film, Chicago 10, premiered as the opening night film.

The Woodstock Film Festival is a not-for-profit, 501 (C)(3) organization with a mission to present an
annual program and year-round schedule of film, music,
and art-related activities that promote artists, culture,
inspired learning, and diversity. The Hudson Valley Film
Commissionpromotes sustainable economic development
by attracting and supporting film, video and media production.